Reviews

Insurgence

Battery March Winter in America LP

Bilingual Beantown street punk, as indebted as much to Nantes as New England, with a follow-up to their debut 7”. Vocals are pleasantly gravel-gruff, clearly been listening to his TEMPLARS tapes, but the plodding chug that underwrites the ambling middle of this album really tests the patience—a song over four minutes? Chill out, RICK WAKEMAN. Ultimately, I cannot be too mad at a record that has this many tunes about how coppers are all a bunch of bad bastards, but it could really do with a kick up the arse to speed up a bit.

Off the Clock For You 12″

Another release from the fertile and verdant Vic City Skins mob, and with members who’ve done time with big hitters such as NO HEART and LAST CRUSADE among its ranks, there’s little surprise that OFF THE CLOCK deliver some classic hard-as-nails Oi! with hardcore influences that packs a steel toe cap kick to the knackers. Vocals are as rough as a badger’s arse, but just about stay on the right side of tolerability, and the riffs are as no-nonsense as they come. Music to have a pint spilled on you to.

Reckless Upstarts We Walk Alone LP

Canadian flat cap botherers RECKLESS UPSTARTS land with their debut LP of meat-and-potatoes shorthaired rock’n’roll. Opening track nails their politics to the mast by clearly stating their unequivocal SHARP-ness, which I will always appreciate. As for the record itself, it’s more tuneful than I expected, clearly pitching at the more anthemic end of the Oi! spectrum. However, toward the arse end of the record, there’s a totally inexplicable and absolutely honking rendition of the MAXINE NIGHTINGALE classic “Back Where We Started” which made me pull a face that I last did when I accidentally trod in dog shit, and quite frankly, if I wasn’t a prison abolitionist, I’d be calling for a custodial sentence. That being said, while it’s certainly not going to be a bona fide classic by any stretch, it’s perfectly fine and I’m sure it’ll make some lads in sambas and West Ham scarves happy enough.

Rough Cuts Nobody’s Fool LP

Sadly, not the latter-era SLADE ripper, Nobody’s Fool is instead the debut from Torontonian outfit ROUGH CUTS which delivers BISHOP’S GREEN and DROPKICK MURPHYS-esque street punk devoid of any real grit or menace. Admittedly, there are a few tracks to which you can bounce along in your adidas sambas and camo shorts should you be one of these modern Oi! types, and they seem to have their head broadly screwed on (small r) right politically-speaking, but some of the lyrics fit about as well as a new pair of 8-hole Docs and the vocals sound like a cartoon bullfrog. Not only this, but one of the riffs is lifted directly from GREEN DAY and they commit the cardinal sin of writing a punk song about an MLS team. Perfectly serviceable, but not essential.

The Bench / The Bois split EP

Another in the Inflame singles series, this time pairing Russia’s very own the BENCH with the BOIS all the way from the Lion City. Not much in the way of anything earth-shattering here—the BENCH suffers from that over-produced clean sound that a lot of modern European Oi! also does, the sort of thing you’d see shortly after doors at Rebellion. Serviceable, but I’ve already forgotten the tune approximately 30 seconds after stopping listening to it. The BOIS offer something slightly different, having decided to pursue a more mod-type sound, which while not completely awful, basically does just sound like landfill indie, as if the ORDINARY BOYS or the RIFLES sang about racial unity rather than the seaside.

The Elite Reason for My Sin EP

Debut outing from this new Buffalo trio, which starts promisingly with a BLITZ-esque riff but soon devolves into some bog-standard Oi!-tinged hardcore. It does whip along at a rate of some knots and there’s enough of a germ at the centre to suggest they might do something decent in the future. Fans of the BRASS and NO TIME may find something to like in this short EP, but sadly likely to be the last time I think about it.

The Uncouth The Uncouth LP

The UNCOUTH are a melodic punk rock band from Kansas City, Missouri that incorporates elements of street punk and rock’n’roll into their songs. The eleven tracks on this album are predominantly mid-tempo, with layered vocals that feature some harmonies, and a few “whoa oh ohhh”-type flourishes. They could be described as anthemic, but that applies more to the attempt than the outcome. I get a strong sense that I’ve heard these tunes before. The progressions and scales they riff on are worn to the point of fray. That can sometimes be a great thing—like the familiarity of your favorite faded band shirt that is comfortably threadbare. This album is more like the scratchy new shirt that has been manufactured to look old. It’s familiar in the generic sense. The anthems just never quite break through for me. I think a useful reference would be ANTI-FLAG. That’s a band that left a similar impression…a late-stage iteration of something great cut with, I dunno, baking soda? Look, you can try sniffing Elmer’s glue, but what’s the point of that?

An Slua / Reckless Upstarts / Red Bricks / The Uncouth Intercontinental Oi! split LP

Intercontinental Oi!  is a comp featuring four different Oi! bands from four different countries putting forth three tracks each. The first and last bands here, RED BRICKS (Germany) and RECKLESS UPSTARTS (Canada), both sound proficient and solid with a skate punk sound that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack. They both sound poppy, bouncy, and anthemic, if not slightly forgettable. The UNCOUTH (USA) have more of a ’90s street punk sound, with a sort of sing-song, gruff vocal style that’s also just OK. Finally, there’s AN SLUA (Ireland), my favorite of the bunch. They remind me a little of early CHUBBY & THE GANG and add some cool phaser effects to their guitars here and there. All that said, none of this is really for me, to be honest. It’s all very polished and reminds me of stuff you’d hear played at an early 2000s Warped Tour stop. I’m no hater, but with bands like MESS, BÉTON ARMÉ, and the CHISEL giving the modern sound of Oi! a facelift with a rougher edge, it leaves this corner of the genre sounding a little limp.